Richloam wma

[chbarnha]

Well I'm on day 36 of 40 straight 12 hour midnights here at the papermill in va, and will get a 5 day weekend the 17th through the 22nd. I'm thinking about making a road trip to Florida to try and kill a public land Osceola. This wma seemed to stick out to me for some reason and was wondering if anybody had hunted there. 58000 acres there are bound to be some birds right? Thanks for any help, really wanting to take a trip down to fla and hunt a public land Osceola. Or if you would recommend somewhere else, I'm all ears. I've never hunted out of the state of va and want to give it a go. Thanks in advance

[LaLongbeard]

You have a couple hundred posts and I'm guessing you read at least some of the threads. How do you not know by now asking for information on specific WMAs etc. is not gonna work on the open forum? You might, maybe, possibly get someone to pm you some info but Florida is crowded enough most that hunt there often or especially locals don't want/need anymore help with Turkey population control.

[bornagain64]

I did not see where he asked for specifics.?
1st of all I would check all the new travel- stay at home orders that have been posted. I know most wmas are open, not sure if traveling from 1 state to another is an issue with covid-19.
Richloam is a crowded place, as are many Fl wmas: maybe not so much this year.
I have found it hard to get away from people, there are lots of roads and different access points. It has dried up a lot in Fl, so not as wet as usual.

Best thing to do is get on google or OnX maps and do some scouting, gives you a place to start: then when you get here, you can hunt/ scout at the same time. New rule this year is all day hunting, so you will have that extra time.

Good luck and stay safe.

[joey46]

Think I saw you on Florida Sportsman forum.  The problem this year in Florida is that the already crowded public land is being compacted by wma closures due to the virus.  This will probably continue through the 4/26 season end.  Might be a good year to punt.  Btw - Richloam is noted for heavy jeep etc mud travel but it has been very dry so far.  If you come down you'll find few restaurants etc open and few places to camp. FWC updates their open/closed page daily on their web site. Good luck.

See someone posted about same time I did.  About the same answers. Nobody "bs" you.

As of one minute ago Richloam still open.

[Crghss]

Here are the Open/Close notices.

https://myfwc.com/recreation/notices/

As mentioned IF you can find a place to stay (WMA camping closed) then come on down (everyone else is).

Lots of locals off of work out there hunting. Most southern WMA's are closed so people are heading too northern WMA's.

Me personally I'm staying home. FL is turning into a hotspot and the next 2 weeks will be the worst (hopefully) of it for us.